Proportional
Representation
The Scottish Parliament &
AMS (The Additional Member
System)
The Rationale behind
Proportional Representation
(PR) is simple:
% of votes = % of seats
The Scottish Parliament
when it was set up,
decided not to use FirstPast-The-Post
They decided to use a form of
Proportional Representation
(PR) called The Additional
Member System (AMS)
There are also other types of PR, for example
STV (Single Transferable Vote) which is used in
the Scottish Council Elections.
The Scottish
Parliament is
different from
the UK
Parliament in
that there is not
simply 1 MP for
each
Constituency
There are 129 MSPs (Members
of Scottish Parliament)
There are 73 Constituencies each
with 1 MSP.
However, that leaves a further 56
seats in the Parliament to be filled
Examples of Scottish Parliament
Constituencies include:
Central Scotland (Region)
Airdrie and Shotts
Coatbridge and Chryston
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth
East Kilbride
Falkirk East
Falkirk West
Hamilton North and Bellshill
Hamilton South
Kilmarnock and Loudon
Motherwell and Wishaw
Who is your MSP and what’s your
Constituency?
Search MSP and
Constituency
Those 73 MSPs are elected
using First-Past-The-Post
This side of the
ballot paper is used
to choose the
person you want to
represent your
Constituency. You
simply place an X
next to the
candidate you want
to win.
The left side of the ballot paper
we’ll look at in a minute.
However, in addition to those
73 MSPs representing 73
Constituencies, 56 further
MSPs must be chosen.
Scotland is broken down into 8
Regions
Vote Scotland - List of Regions
This side of the ballot paper will
create the remaining 56 MSPs.
A further ‘X’ is placed next to the
Party you choose. There may be
an Independent candidate here
too.
This is known as the Regional List
There are 8 Regions in Scotland
Each of the 8 regions will be allocated 7
MSPs. This creates the remaining 56
MSPs.
How do we work out who gets those
remaining seats then?
In each region, the total votes cast
for each party are totalled.
Central Scotland
For Central Scotland Region, all votes will
be totalled.
Airdrie and Shotts
Coatbridge and Chryston
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth
East Kilbride
Falkirk East
Falkirk West
Hamilton North and Bellshill
Regional votes
Hamilton South
Kilmarnock and Loudon
Motherwell and Wishaw
SNP
Labour
Lib
Dems
Tories
60,000
51,000
10,000
20,100
7 calculations then take place and at
the end of each calculation, a Party is
allocated an MSP.
SNP
Labour
Lib Dems
Tories
Regional Votes
60,000
51,010
10,000
20,100
Seats Already
4
3
2
1
1st Calculation
60,000/4+1
=12,000
51,010/3+1
=12,752
10,000/2+1
=3333
20,100/1+1
=10,050
2nd Calculation
12,000
51,010/4+1
=10,202
3333
10,050
3rd Calculation
60,000/5+1
=10,000
10,202
3333
10,050
4th Calculation
10,000
51,010/5+1
=8502
3333
10,050
5th Calculation
10,000
8502
3333
20,100/2+1
=6700
6th Calculation
60,000/6+1
=8571
8502
3333
6700
7th Calculation
60,000/7+1
=7500
8502
333
6700
Total Number of
Seats in
Parliament
4+3=
7
3+3=
6
2+0=
2
1+1=
2
Each party will produce a ‘list’ for
that Region and each seat they win
will be allocated to the highest person
on that list, working down the list if
they win more than one.
You can stand as a
Candidate for a
Constituency and/or
the Regional List
So 7 Regional/List MPSs are allocated to
each of the 8 regions eg Central Scotland
However, they don’t represent a
specific Constituency eg Falkirk
West – they work on behalf of the
whole Region
Map of Central Scotland Region
SNP
Labour
Lib Dems
Tories
Regional Votes
60,000
51,000
10,000
20,100
Seats Already
4
3
2
1
1st Calculation
60,000/4+1
=12,000
50,100/3+1
=12,525
10,000/2+1
=3333
20,100/1+1
=10,050
2nd Calculation
12,000
50,100/4+1
=10,000
3333
10,050
3rd Calculation
60,000/5+1
=10,000
10,020
3333
10,050
4th Calculation
10,000
10,020
3333
20,100/2+1
=6700
5th Calculation
10,000
51,000/5+1
=8500
3333
6700
6th Calculation
60,000/6+1
=8571
8500
3333
6700
7th Calculation
60,000/7+1
=7500
8500
333
6700
Total Number of
Seats in
Parliament
4+3=
7
3+3=
6
2+0=
2
1+1=
2
SNP - 47
Labour - 46
Tories -16
Lib Dems -16
Independents - 1
Greens - 2
No Party
Affiliation - 1
Current Scottish Parliament